Trucking Con-Man Goes From the Hammer to the Slammer

Note: I'm on vacation this week, but thought I'd share this story from Today's Trucking:

You’ll be glad to know that Joseph “the trucker spy” Volpe will be taking the new few months off work.

Because what Volpe does for a living is extort truck companies.

He calls his business Third Eye Highway Safety. Volpe drives around the U.S. with a camera, ready to video any trucker making an unsafe move. If he catches one on video, he takes the footage to the carrier and demands money, in exchange for the company getting “exclusive rights” to keep the video from going viral.

Or in other words, straight-up blackmail.

However, because of a road-rage incident recently that’s quite unrelated to the shake-down business, Volpe will a guest of the State of Tennessee for at least the next few months.

A judge found Volpe guilty of second-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

According to media reports, a truck driver named Bruce Johnston had moved into the hammer lane for some reason and found himself behind Volpe, who, angered by the trucker’s decision, slowed to 30 mph.

Once Johnston moved back to the right, a livid Volpe then pulled up alongside Johnston’s truck and fired a shot with his 9mm gun. The bullet went through the sleeper cabin and got lodged in the driver-side door, inches from Johnston’s head.

Johnston was unharmed.

The crimes Volpe was convicted of would usually carry between 11 to 48 years in prison combined.

Instead, Volpe will have to spend less than a year in a state workhouse and pay $17,500 to the intended victim— $250 a month for the next seven years.

If Volpe misses a restitution payment or has any incident at the workhouse, he will serve three consecutive sentences — a total of 13 years — in Tennessee prison.

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Deborah Lockridge

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All That's Trucking blog is just that – the editor's take on anything and everything related to trucking, with the help of guest posts from other HDT editors. Author Deborah Lockridge's career as an award-winning trucking journalist started in 1990.